Knight of the Black Top
by sbyamibakura
Summary: Post-TDK. Batman/Joker. The Joker was escalating things further and further, these past few weeks, more so than he had before, pushing Bruce, no the Batman, to his limits. Sequel to Transcending Madness


Title: Knight of the Black Top

Universe: Nolanverse (Post-TDK)

Genre: Slash/Gen

Rating: T

Characters/Pairings: Batman/Joker, Bruce Wayne, The Joker, Jonathan Crane, Alfred, Jonny Frost,

Word Count: 2427

Warnings: Language, Jonny Frost from the graphic novel Joker, etc

Summary: The Joker was escalating things further and further, these past few weeks, more so than he had before, pushing Bruce, no the Batman, to his limits.

A/N: This is the sequel to Transcending Madness, but can easily be read as a stand-alone.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

These were the sorts of things that he did _not _sign up for when he first put on the cowl and cape, becoming Gotham's dark knight. He turns up the volume on his television, where the Joker was on and ranting on about something.

"--and that means _you_, Batsy!" The Joker was saying, waving around his arms wildly, his lips spread into a grin that stretched to his scars, the background behind him black, making Bruce think that he was filming in a specialized location. "_You _have to come to the Black Top," The Black Top was the name of a seedy hangout in the Narrows, a place usually filled to the brim with gangsters and drug dealers. "I don't wanna get a whiff of any cops around. You cut it a little close last time, sweetcheeks. One whiff of stale donuts and _boom!_"

The Joker cackles and suddenly the black screen behind the clown prince gets pulled away by two of the criminal's clown-mask wearing goons and Bruce's eyes widen as he takes in the people, one woman and three men that he could see, behind the laughing clown; all were tied up in chairs, their mouths gagged, but their eyes were uncovered and all look horrified.

"And these _ve--rrry _nice folk will go up in flames. I know you'll do the uh, right thing," continued Joker, licking his lips. "You _alll--ways _do, dont'cha Bats? Hurry, hurry." The cheshire grin of the clown prince was the last thing he sees on the screen before it goes blank.

_Not again. _The Joker was escalating things further and further, these past few weeks, more so than he had before, pushing Bruce, no the Batman, to his limits. His movements were even more erratic than usual, leaving Bruce having to leave in the middle of meetings at Wayne Enterprises more than once, only Lucius understanding as to why. And at least half of the things he hurried to were false alarms; leaving him to arrive at the scenes to find nothing there, not any people, any bombs, _nothing_, except on the odd occasion that he would find a Joker card lying on the ground somewhere, or pinned to a wall.

The many occurances, mixed with the fact that they were all at different hours, and sometimes in more than one place at once, left Bruce physically, and mentally, exhausted. Even sleeping in at meetings was doing little good, leaving Lucius and Alfred both to comment on it. It had all started with that damned stunt the Joker had pulled at the prison, killing a few guards and prisoners before he finally managed to get there and put a halt to it all. The worst part had been how The Joker had all but given himself up the moment he had arrived, grinning that fucking grin at him, and all but gurgling with laughter.

He sighs, standing up and hurrying past Alfred, pressing the secret button on his wall, moving inside, quickly starting to shed his clothing and putting on the Suit. He could hear Alfred coming up behind him as he locks plates of armor into place.

"Him again, sir?" Alfred asked quietly. He had watched his young master with worry for a time, and continued to be so, which was not abated any by Bruce's nod. The Joker was taking a toll on Bruce, in a physical sense as _well _as a mental sense. The clown was getting to the young billionaire. Alfred could see it all too well, and though he could see how hard Bruce tried to keep things down, the older man had always been able to read Bruce very well, this being no exception.

He kept his tongue about what he had heard lately coming from Bruce's bedroom in the morning as he arrived to bring him breakfast; at first the moaning had been given little thought, more than used to it by now, either from a nightmare that the billionaire would have or a more...hormonal thing. So he did as he always did; he waited patiently to give Bruce a few extra minutes to sort himself out.

But one time was different; he could hear Bruce moaning, but also _talking_. Not too loud, but still enough to reach his ears.

"You _bastard--_"

Perhaps Bruce was dreaming about that night, so many years ago, where a young life had been shattered in an instant by one frightened man who held a gun in his shaking hands.

"I _hate _you. I do! I swear to God I do--"

The moaning increased in volume, which started to worry the butler so he grabs onto the doorknob, starting to open it, when the next moaned words from Bruce stop him cold.

"_Joker_."

He distantly heard Bruce cry out, his own ears ringing, trying to comprehend everything and put it all together. Bruce had been...not a nightmare...he had been _dreaming. _Dreaming about the _Joker_.

He sighs.

_Oh, Bruce--_

He nearly sighs now, coming back to the present as Bruce finishes putting on his cowl, no longer Bruce, but the Batman, eyes intense and cold. He steps aside as the caped man walks past without another word.

_Keep your head on your shoulders, Master Wayne. Don't let that madman get to you...anymore than he already has._

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

He was thankful that the sun had set by the time he gathers the rebuilt Tumbler and sets off for the Black Top. The side-streets of the Narrows quickly come into view, the lanes silent as he set off through them, the only sounds the roar of the machine he drove, and the beating of his own heart.

All too soon, he arrives at the Black Top, a small sign written in black the only sign that he was at the right place; the building blended together with the rest of the decrepid buildings around it. He gets out of the Tumbler and walks towards the front door, second-checking his gear before coming to the front of the building. Before he could even grab the handle, it gets opened from the otherside.

He didn't know what he was expecting, if anything, a goon of the Joker's perhaps, but he certainly didn't expect Jonathan Crane to be standing there, sans mask. Crane had been caught a week or so ago and been stuck in Arkham; no news of a breakout had been announced, though that wasn't always reliable. Nor had Gordon said anything on the matter, a source that _was _reliable.

He was even more shocked when Crane smiles pleasantly at him, absently straightening out his brown suit. "Ah, good you're here. I was afraid our residential clown would start playing Knife Fight with someone."

He ignores the 'our' bit that Crane spouted and, after a glance to make sure that the Scarecrow's hands were free of anything--better safe than sprayed with some of the man's Toxin--he pushes the man aside, also ignoring the kicked puppy look from the man. Had the whole world gone bonkers?

Batman walks further inside; the interior was a small little bar area with ratty looking stools, a pool table that had seen better days and a dartboard which was filled with darts, all of them pinned to a picture of the Mayor, whose eyes had been circled in with black, his mouth done in with red, making it obvious who had colored it.

Crane hurries ahead of him, moving a curtain out of the way to get inside another room. He follows, wondering where this was going, anger starting to build, wondering if this was another pointless ruse by the Joker. If it was, then the next time he saw the Joker, the fucking man was going to _get _it.

He pushes the curtain aside, the smell of smoke and a few other things he couldn't identify waft past his nose as he heads in. It only took a few steps before the smallish hallway broadened and he was inside another room. His breath catches before he could stop himself. Sitting, legs crossed and propped up on a round table, coat slung over his chair, sleeves rolled up to show off bared arms, wearing that damnable cheshire grin and paint, was the Joker, who looks up as Batman steps inside, having apparently ignored Crane who had come ahead of him and was sitting the seat to the Joker's right.

In the seat to the Joker's left was a blond haired man, who looked at ease, except for his eyes, which were bright with excitement, that the caped crusader had never seen before. His eyes pass over a few of the clown prince's goons, no one important, and his nearly ever present frown is more pronounced when he notices something in particular.

"Where are the prisoners, Joker?" He rasps.

The Joker's grin quickly turns into a frown. He takes his feet off the table and looks at the Batman in annoyance. "What? No, 'Heya, sweetie, good to see you?'" Joker says, almost pouting. "And here I went through all this trouble! I even invited your favorite doctor," he waves a careless hand at Crane, nearly smacking the man in the face. "And do I get a thank you? A congratulations kiss? No!" He sulks for a second before Batman's growl makes him roll his eyes.

"If you just led me here on a wild goose chase, Joker, I swear--" He takes a step forward, angry at all the bullshitting. A couple of the man's goons start to point their guns at the knight, but Joker waves a hand at them and they lower them.

"_Somebody _needs to lighten up." Stated Joker, grinning again. A cell phone was in his hands now. "And I _do _still have the, oh-so-innocent people; I just had 'em moved, is all. I didn't want them to ah, get in the way."

Batman's eyes narrow, taking another step forward. "And just what the hell is that supposed to--"

"Jonny Jonny," said Joker, interupting whatever the caped man had been about to finish saying. He tosses the cell phone to the blond man, who was apparently Jonny. "Call and let Batsy hear the stupid little cries from those people."

Jonny quickly dials a number and holds up the phone. Batman could clearly hear the cries and screaming from what sounded like many people, more than he had seen on the screen. The blond closes the phone and pockets it, leaning back into his chair.

Crane finally speaks up. "Okay, so now that is out of the way. We can get to--" He stops at Joker's sudden glare.

"I _said _I was going to be the one to tell him, didn't I?" Snarled Joker. He turns back to look at Batman, all that sudden anger disappearing, grinning at him in the next instant. "I'll let the sniveling bastards go...on one condition."

Batman reaches the table and his eyes peer into the Joker's startling green ones. Had they always been that deep a color? Why the hell was he noticing the man's fucking eyes of all times, no, at _all_? His jaw clenches. "_What?_"

He tries to ignore the murmured, "Anger like that obviously stems from an emotional stunting from an event of youth. There are only two solutions to something of that caliber; fighting or fucking. Or both."from Crane and focuses solely on the clown prince.

Joker, after a glance at Batman whose eyes kept looking at all the armed men who surrounded the room, waves the said men off, then waves a hand to the empty chair across from him. "Sit, Bats and I'll tell you."

Batman, still unsure, hesitantly takes a seat, feeling rather foolish as he sat there, the clown prince, Scarecrow and the man who Joker had called "Jonny Jonny" all staring at him.

"I'll release them, but first you've got to have dinner with me!" Batman's eyes widen as the Joker's eyes glow brightly with excitement. He swallows against the lump in his throat. The Joker's mad spells he could take. He could take the anger, the continuing laughter, the snide remarks, but that look in the Joker's face...he couldn't take that. He moves his eyes to somewhere around the Joker's shoulder, unable to look the man directly in the face any longer, hating himself for his weakness.

"Bats?"

"Fine," he mutters.

Jonny gets out of his chair and heads over to a side door, behind Crane, opening it up. "Hey, it's time to get the fucking food out here; The Joker's ready to eat!" The sound of clanging became frantic.

Crane chuckles, writing something down on a notepad.

"Hey, Bats." The Joker says softly.

Batman forces himself to look up into the criminal's eyes this time, the change in the clown's tone was nearly as bad as the look in the eyes. His eyes widen as he feels a foot rub up against his leg. The damn man must have taken his shoes off when he took them off the table. He was playing footsie with him!

"Guess this counts as our first real date, huh? Took long enough! You've been playing _verrry _hard to get." The Joker's smile softens.

Batman, meanwhile, tries very hard convincing himself that that made him want to hit the Joker, not the fact that his eyes were drawn to the man's lips, wondering how they would taste.

He tries _very _hard.

...And fails miserably.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

A/N: Wow! I wrote this all at once in a couple of hours! Late hours, mind you, lol. Woot for pushing myself to write it! =D It, of course, turned out much longer than I was going to make it, but I'm not complaining. XD Though I couldn't help myself in adding Jonny Frost; he's one of my new favorite little characters that I've been wanting to use in fic, since I read the awesome Joker graphic novel. And everyone's been wanting a sequel to Transcending Madness, so... XD

I hope you all enjoyed this!

Let me know what you thought!

--PhoenixJustice


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